


Mob Boss

by esama



Category: Naruto, モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100
Genre: Crack, Crossover, Gen, Land of Waves Arc, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 08:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8095519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: In which Reigen teleports, improvs and accidentally takes over a small nation.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> unbetaed

There was flash of bright light and then Reigen was elsewhere.

"Mob? Hanazawa?" he asked in confusion, but the boys were nowhere near. And neither was anyone else – or rather, Reigen wasn't where he had been. Gone was the warehouse where they'd been and instead there was... a forest. An old looking one too, with big old trees, trunks thicker than a man.

Reigen stared up for a moment, trying to gauge how high the trees were, before sighing. "Aww geez," he muttered and absently looked for his smokes. "So that's teleportation, huh?"

Well, if nothing else, Mob seemed to have some skill in it – and he could teleport other people too. And it definitely wouldn't hurt the kid to have couple of tricks that were not just benign, but actually useful in practical sense. This would save them on bus fees... once Mob learned to control it, anyway.

"I could've done without a practical demonstration, though," Reigen muttered and lit up a smoke to try and calm his nerves. Should he wait and see if the boys would teleport him back – or start looking for a bus stop while it was still light outside...?

How far away had Mob teleported him anyway? What with the trees and all – was it a national park or something? Where was the closest national park anyway?

And then, suddenly, he wasn't alone. "Well, there you are. Finally," Reigen muttered to cover his relief, turning to face the two who had appeared behind him. "Did you work it out, then?"

It wasn't Mob, or Hanazawa. Instead it was two strange guys, cosplaying samurai or something. They were both even carrying swords.

"Oh, lookie what we have here," one of them said, grinning at him over his ragged looking scarf . "A little rich fuck and all alone. Hey, bastard, gimme your wallet, will ya?"

Reigen stared at him. "Is this a joke?" He asked slowly.

"Does this look like a joke to you?" The scarf guy asked and pulled out one of his katanas. It had dents and chips in the blade and it looked like it was actually metal.

It looked pretty dull and rusted though.

Reigen eyed it and then blew out some smoke. "It does a bit, yes," he answered honestly.

"What was that?!" Scarfy asked dangerously.

"Hey, we got a job to do," the other said, twiddling with his gauntlets. "Gatou wants it done quickly – we can't just –"

"Shut up, this won't take long," Scarfy said and leered at Reigen, lifting the blade to his face. "See that, you bastard? It's fucking real. Now hand me the money or else!"

Maybe it was a role play thing? Maybe he was ruining their act. Better play along a bit.

"Or else what, you'll kill me?" Reigen asked with unimpressed look. "Honestly, you're working for Gatou," whoever that was, "and you have to resort to robbing random bystanders? Can't even afford a decent sword," he added and pushed the blade aside with a finger. "Not paying you much, is he?"

"Huh?" Scarfy said, falling out of character before quickly recalling his act. He levelled the sword at Reigen again. "What's it to you how much he pays us, bastard?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm sure," Reigen said placatingly and inhaled through his cigarette. "I'm sure you're doing just fine and get all the benefits of working for such an... upstanding gentleman," he was warming up to his role now. "Equipment and such notwithstanding."

Gauntlets looked at him nervously. "Who are you? You're not from around here, not in that get up."

"Oh, I'm just looking around," Reigen said and smiled. "Seeing the sights, as it were. No harm in that, is there?"

They stared at him like he was insane. Bit too over the top maybe. Ah well. Reigen smiled. "Well I guess I'll leave you to your... business."

"Oi, I'm not done with you –" Scarfy started to say but Gauntlets stopped him.

"Hey, look at him," Gauntlets whispered to his partner. "Do you think guy like that would be here alone? Even Gatou isn't stupid enough to go without bodyguards."

"So fucking what?! We can take them!"

"And if they're ninja? Just look who Gatou's hired – and old man Tazuna too! You think this guy would do any less? And just think about it – this timing..."

Reigen let them whisper amongst themselves, trying to hide his amusement. This was kind of fun – and they were really good actors too. Maybe they were from a theatre school or something, doing elaborate improv?

Reigen turned away, to look at the forest, wondering if it was a set – nah, it looked pretty real.

"Look there you go – he's signalling them."

"So, what, you think this guy is here to –"

"Well think about it? Gatou is going head to head with Tazuna. He's pretty distracted right now. What better time to swoop in?"

"...he's gotta be pretty damn confident to just be strolling around like this, huh? Do you think...?"

"Gatou has a lot of enemies..."

They whispered for a bit more and Reigen pretended he wasn't over hearing everything. They were probably being loud on purpose on the account of him having stumbled on their act - giving him necessary info in form of dialogue. What nice guys.

"So," Scarfy said, raising his voice now that the exposition had been covered. "You're here to see the sights, huh?"

"Something like that," Reigen said and dropped his cigarette stub on the ground. "I'm waiting on my subordinate right now, so I might just as well..." he crushed the still smoking stub under his heel, "...kill some time."

Gauntlets swallowed. "Maybe we could show you around," he offered nervously.

Reigen considered him and then smiled. Tour in a theatre school's playing grounds, huh? That sounded interesting. "Excellent, lead the way," he said and motioned ahead.

 

* * *

 

Reigen looked left. There were wooden buildings there, with empty store fronts and people in ragged, semi old fashioned clothes hanging about in whatever shade they could find. There were beggars on street corner, reaching for the people passing by and being ruthlessly kicked away when they got too close. There were a lot of similar tough samurai types like Scarfy and Gauntlets. They were doing most of the kicking

Reigen looked right. A town square of sorts, with just the one rough stall, selling fish – few people glanced in on it and then hurried away when they saw the prices. It was manned by an old lady with a crooked back, whose shoulders slumped every time a potential customer walked away.

"Amazing," Reigen said and took out his packet of cigarettes. It was like being in an actual town, the set was so well done. "Just amazing."

"Yeah," Scarfy said with a dark laugh. "Gatou's bled this place pretty much dry."

"There's not even any decent sake left here," Gauntlets agreed with a sigh and ducked his head down when Reigen glanced at him. "I mean. Not that I'd drink on job," he said, and then quietly added, "much."

"Hmm," Reigen hummed with amusement and lit his cigarette. They were garnering some attention from the samurai types. Sideways looks were being thrown their way and some people just flat out stopped to stare – few even whispered to each other while eyeballing them suspiciously.

It was like something from an old samurai movie. Or a western. All was missing was a saloon and they'd be all set. It was _amazing_ – and not something he, in his position as the Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century, often got to see. Horror movie sets were more his usual fare.

Reigen inhaled through the cigarette to stifle his grin before it could widen and his eyes landed one of the beggars.

It looked like a kid. Her costume and make up were pretty damn convincing – it really looked like she was half starved to death and probably recently beaten up. Man, they must have one hell of a costume department in that school.

Reigen hummed consideringly and then dug around his pockets – ah there. Clutching the candy bar in hand, Reigen stepped over to the kid and crouched down. "Hi, there," he said. "How are you –"

"Stay away from her, you _bastard_!"

It was a woman in maybe her fifties, and she was brandishing a broom at him. "You disgusting filth! How dare you – how dare you even _try_ – in front of my _bar_ – you filth!"

"Now, ma'am," Reigen started with surprise. He'd gotten so used to Scarfy and Gauntlets' supportive acting that he'd forgotten – he was in middle in other people's set and probably messing up their play.

"Hey, watch what you're doing, you old hag," Scarfy snapped and pulled a sword on her. "Don't you even know who you're talking to?! You ought to pay your respects to, uh –"

"Reigen," Reigen supplied with some amusement – though maybe he should've tried for a made up name?

"I don't care if you were damned rabbit goddess herself!" the woman spat. "I won't have you lecherous bastards anywhere near my bar – and keep you disgusting hands to yourself. These kids -!"

"You bitch!" Scarfy snarled and then punched her square in the jaw, just like that.

Reigen stared, mouth agape, as the woman went down.

"There, now shut up and fucking _stay_  shut up," Scarfy spat and then went to kick the woman for good measure.

" _Oi_ ," Reigen said, stopping him. That looked like it hurt – it looked real. And acting or not, he'd done it in front of the kid too. Or what very convincingly looked like a kid anyway. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Er," Scarves said, looked back at him and then went pale. "She was talking back at you, Reigen-sama! I couldn't just let her –"

"What, talk?" Reigen asked with disbelief. "You think punching someone is a justifiable counter argument to _talking_?"

"She was – she was saying those things and –"

"So? People have said a lot worse," Reigen shrugged. "Its just words – there's no need to get physical over words."

Shaking his head he held out a hand to the woman who was furiously wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. "I am so sorry, ma'am. Are you alright? Here, let me help you up."

She eyed his hand with surprised suspicion and then, very cautiously, took it. "Reigen, was it? This your rabble, then?" she motioned at Scarfy and Gauntlets, who were standing back, looking awkward. "Tch. You should keep your dogs in check."

"What was that, _bitch_?" Scarfy growled.

"Hey, how about some manners?" Reigen said placidly. "Calling names never gets anyone anywhere."

They were drawing in a bit of a crowd – lot of the samurai-types were making a circle around them. And now they all stared at him like he was insane. Apparently his acting wasn't setting appropriate.

"Right," the woman said slowly and picked up her broom. "Now what were you touching little Aki for?"

"I was going to give her a candy bar – but she seems to have vanished," Reigen said thoughtfully. He'd wanted to see how good her make up was up close – because her eye had been all swollen up, and that had probably taken some prosthetics and whatnot.

He'd for a while now thought that make up might make a good addition to his business – add a bit of flavour to the whole thing.

The broom woman stared at him in disbelief. "Candy bar," she repeated.

Reigen shrugged and flicked bit of ash off his cigarette before breathing through it. "So, things seem a bit tense around here," he commented, and blew the smoke out, wondering what the full story here was.

The way he figured, this Gatou character was a landlord or something, and apparently not a good one. So maybe a story of people vs. dictatorial lord, or something like that. Pretty classic. But did they have actual plot to this whole thing, or…

"You don't say," Broom said sarcastically, looking him up and down, taking his suit – not very setting appropriate – his hair cut – also probably not very setting appropriate, everyone here seemed to have longer hair. "So who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" she asked and scowled. "If you're here to see Gatou – he's not in the town."

"Isn't he? Pity," Reigen said and looked at the samurai-types around them. Man, but the costumes were good. There was a sort of sci-fi, cyber-punk tinge to them. One guy had a gas mask on, another seemed to have sunglasses attached to his temples with screws, and so on. Everything from the clothing to tattoos to the hair cuts and bits and pieces of jewellery – they were all just… so good.

"Well, look at you lot," Reigen said and shook his head. The budget this theatre school had must be amazing.

"You got something to say, ya bastard?" one of the samurai – one with a _scythe_ for some reason – growled at him.

"Show some respect to Reigen-sama, you _rat_!" Scarfy growled back, going for his katana.

"Oi, oi, calm down," Reigen said, sighing and flicking some ash off his cigarette again. "No need for hostility. No one wants a fight."

" _I_ want a fight," one guy in the back said, waving his meaty arm. "I love fighting!"

"Well," Reigen said, a little lost for words. " _Good_ on you," he settled on saying and someone laughed in the background.

Man, there was really a crowd around them. And they seemed to be expecting something. Scarfy and Gauntlets were both glancing at him expectantly and even Broom was looking at him like she was waiting for something. What did they want?

Oh, of course. He was surrounded by actors – and he was an outsider who somehow barged into their improvised role-play. Obviously they wanted him to prove his chops.

They wanted a speech. No, a _monologue_.

"Hmm," Reigen said, looking at the crowd. Alright. He could do a monologue.

"This is one hell of a place," he started, with every eye on him, looking from person to person. "And you're one hell of a crowd. Just look at you lot – amazing," he shook his head. "I'm told Gatou's bled this place dry – and that there's not much here left. True it looks a bit vacant here and there. But this place doesn't look bled out. There's _spirit_ here."

In his element now, Reigen turned to look at Broom who was now scowling at him. "This lady here almost brained me with a broom. A _broom_ ," he said, shaking his head. "Over a little beggar girl. That's _spirit_ for you," he nodded to her and then looked at the rest. "And you people. I've just arrived and already you're here, up in my face, ready to fight _me_. That's _spirit_."

Reigen turned on his heel again, glancing at Scarfy and Gauntlet. They were watching him avidly. Doing good then. "I don't like to fight," he continued. "Fighting for me has never solved anything. Killing people doesn't make anything better. What really matters is working together. People, in group, can accomplish anything. Even I can't do much alone – even I'm just one man. But together, _with others_ , we can accomplish _anything_."

Everyone was staring at him now – there were even people other than the samurai-types trickling in. He was doing good. Probably. Feeling a bit more confident now, Reigen paused and then gambled a bit. "I've heard a lot about what Gatou's done here," he said and held a long, dramatic pause, looking from person to person, meeting eyes. "What have you lot done? What have _you_ accomplished here?"

Now people – especially the samurai-types – were shifting on their feet, some looking vaguely guilty, while the regular old towns people were glaring at them. Reigen nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I know how you feel," he said and shook his head. "For a long while, I didn't accomplish anything either. I was just like you," he said sadly. "Living from day to day, from pay to pay, no care in the world. Following the crowd, making no mark on the world around me, making no difference… Just existing…"

Another dramatic pause, this time with nostalgic expression thrown in. They were _lapping it up_. Ha, see, even amateurs could have decent acting chops. "They won't remember us if we _just existed_ ," he then said and looked up, nodding to his audience. "And they won't remember us for what we tore down. They'll remember us for what we _build_. And we can only build together – and for that… you need spirit."

Reigen met more eyes. Some people were actually nodding along. Incredible. "And I think this place still has it. But who knows," he trailed off for a moment and looked away sadly. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Gatou's bled you all dry by now."

He ended it there. It had gone on a bit too long anyway.

"He damn well hasn't _bled us dry_!" Broom shouted and waved her broom. "This is Wave! We got the sea in our veins! There is no way a little bastard like Gatou can kill out spirit!"

"Yeah! We're made of stronger stuff!" someone shouted just as another called out triumphantly, "We got life in us left! And so does our land!" and third shouted, "Yeah! Yeah!"

The samurai-types were exchanging looks before one of them shouted, "I haven't even been paid in _four months_!" and another shouted, "Yeah, me neither!" and third shouted. "There isn't even any booze left here!"

"Reigen, Reigen!" Scarfy chanted. It caught on pretty quickly. "Reigen, Reigen!"

Reigen smothered the urge to smirk smugly as he watched them. He'd gotten them pretty rallied up, huh. Not bad for an amateur improvisation, he thought, and pushed his hands into his pockets. Not bad at all.

The impromptu rally was then interrupted by yet another samurai type figure who shouted, "What the hell are you people doing! Gatou's called for a gathering!" he called, breathless, as he barged into the crowd. "He's going to take out the ninja, he wants everyone there!"

Everyone looked at Reigen. Reigen arched an eyebrow. He could feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck. Was this the plot finally showing itself, or was this more improv, but on larger scale? Damn it, were they expecting him to take a lead role in this play, even though he hadn't even read the script?

Maybe he should've just kept his mouth shut after all.

"What are you just standing there for?" the messenger asked. "Lets go! Gatou's waiting for us!"

"Oh, is he now?" Reigen said, and took out his packet of smokes, trying to stall for time, trying to think it through. He went for a lighter too but before he could grab it, several were thrust at him from all sides, as about dozen people, samurai and towns people alike, tried to light the cigarette all at once.

Reigen stood still in a circle of lit lighters for a moment, glancing at the people around him. Their acting was impeccable – they looked so earnest, so serious. It was like scene from a movie. Damn.

It was pretty cool.

He'd been playing the responsible adult for a while now, with Mob and the others. Maybe… maybe he could loosen up a bit and just have fun with this.

Reigen took light from the nearest lighter, sucked a breath through the cigarette and smiled. "Alright," he said and blew out a trail of smoke. "Let's go meet Gatou."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha :D Hi, got a new fandom and a new fave. And of course I jump on it on a ridiculous crossover. 
> 
> (Writing new character is nerve-wrecking tho. Did I get Reigen right at all?)


	2. Chapter 2

These guys really had a knack for sets. Apparently, the showdown was planned on a bridge. And not just that, but an unfinished bridge, with skeletal rebar sticking out from the concrete and everything. How the hell they got the permission to mess about on an unfinished construction site, Reigen had no idea, but damn if it didn't make for an iconic setting.

"So," Reigen said thoughtfully. "That's the bridge."

The people around him shifted nervously.

"Yeah, that's the fucking bridge alright," Scarfy said and spat at the ground. "Fuck, but old man Tazuna is just not quitting."

"Once we're through with Gatou, well take care if it once and for all, right, Boss?" someone in the crowd asked eagerly. "Just couple of explosives on the pillars and down it goes, hell yeah!"

Broom threw a wild, furious look at Reigen, and she wasn't only one. There were lot of helplessly angry looks in the crowd. Arching his eyebrows, Reigen glanced back at the speaker. It was Scythe, who was all but bouncing with excitement.

"Now why would we want to blow up the bridge?" Reigen asked curiously. Of course, they must've incorporated the bridge into the setting, making it part of the plot. Man, they'd spent a lot of time planning this set up, huh?

Scythe faltered for a moment. "Um. Because – it's no good?"

"And why would a bridge be no good?" Reigen asked, and looked back at the bridge. "Looks like perfectly fine bridge to me, albeit unfinished…"

"It's because it'll let people come and go as they please," Broom snapped at him angrily. "And that's bad for business isn't it? Can't very well extort us of all of our money if we can just up and leave, right?"

Oh, so, it was an island setting. Reigen nodded in understanding. "That so?" he answered thoughtfully and peered at the bridge. Isolated island with withering economy thanks to lack of easy transport – he was getting it now.   
"So that's why Gatou wants to get rid of the bridge." Not that he'd known that getting rid of the bridge was part of the plot before, but he could roll with it.

"Well, _obviously_ ," Broom scoffed and glared at him in furious, unspoken frustration. She was, Reigen thought, probably the best actor there. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Reigen asked placidly, still trying to piece the rest of the plot together from what clues he'd been given.

"Well are you going to try to stop the bridge from being finished too?"

Reigen paused his ruminations at that and turned to look at her. "Now why would I want to do that?" he asked, because honestly, the actual destruction of the bridge probably wasn't in the script. He doubted that even their obviously rich acting school had the money to demolish an _actual bridge_ for the sake of improv.

The words made Broom scowl with twice as much suspicion, but she didn't say anything else. Others did, though.

"Um, Reigen-sama – are you – with all due respect, sir, are you sure?" Gauntlets murmured. "Gatou says that these people will be impossible control once the bridge is finished."

Reigen nodded – it made sense, story wise. Give people an out and they'll use it, that's generally how things worked. "I think these people are about done being controlled, anyway," Reigen mused. That much he knew of the plot anyway. "Bridge or no bridge, it's going to end here."

"But," Gauntlets started and then stopped, looking conflicted. "Well, if you're sure, sir, but…"

"I am sure," Reigen said, arching an eyebrow at him. "I'm very sure," he added and then glanced back at the crowd of people at his back. There was a lot of them now – there had to be at least fifty, sixty people there now. Most of them were townspeople, though the samurai were still most vocal of the bunch.

"Oh," Gauntlet said in realisation, though what he was having a realisation about, Reigen had no idea. " _Oh_."

There was a lot of whispering going on in the crowd – people rehearsing their lines and checking up their act before the grand finale, probably. Lot of them were talking in character, extrapolating from Reigen's additions and world building, which was kind of interesting to hear.

"... pretty damn influential just to show up here like this..."

"... pretty sly. Gatou and Tazuna are going at it and here Reigen-sama comes in to just roll over them both while they're distracted..."

"That's how you win – you don't take enemy on when he's at his strongest, not if you're smart. You weaken him first..."

"But what's that about the bridge – do you think he's really going to just let it be..."

"...do you think we can really beat Gatou? Just think about Kaizen..."

Oh, so there was more to the back story. Kaizen was probably a historical figure, or a past hero or something. Reigen smiled, imagining the Ronin Kaizen who'd long ago came to this villages defence, trying to free it from Gatou's tyranny and failed. Interesting stuff.

"It doesn't look like Gatou's here yet," Broom said nervously, looking ahead.

"Should we wait?" Gauntlets asked Reigen.

Reigen turned his eyes to the bridge. "Whoever makes the first move has the advantage," he said, loud enough to carry and cease the conversations behind him. "Let's not give it to Gatou."

There was some hesitation as some people nodded and one even almost cheered before he was hushed out. "I thought we were going to ambush them," Scythe said with a scowl. "Once they'd be weakened after fighting each other."

Damnit, Reigen thought, had he messed up? They probably had this thing scripted and he was going way off script.

Quickly he cleared his throat. "It would be impolite to just appear unannounced, don't you think?" he asked, outwardly calm and internally frantically thinking of what to say. "And whoever said anything about ambush? You make it sound like we're going to fight – honestly. We're just going to meet him, that's all. We'll be perfectly peaceful."

Judging by their dubious, hesitant expressions, his audience wasn't buying it.

"Besides," Reigen said with a cough and adjusted his tie slightly, loosening it a fraction so that it stopped strangling him. "There are those ninjas to consider. Some of them are in Gatou's employ, right? It would be down right rude of us to not give them... a heads up."

There was a moment of silence. Gauntlets, Broom and Scarfy all stared at him with surprise. "Oh," Broom then said in understand, just as it hits the others.

"Oh, of course!"

"Right, right!"

"It makes perfect sense."

"That's Reigen-sama for you!"

Reigen nodded at them cool and heaved an internal sigh of relief. Phew. Saved it. And he'd gotten them riled up again, which was probably good. "Right," he said, smoothing hand down his tie to straighten it out. "Let's go."

And then they were at the bridge – and oh boy did the town have nothing on what was going on there. They were doing an actual fight scene taking place on the bridge, with extras – or dolls – lying _lifeless_ on the ground and everything. There was even blood. It looked very convincingly like a scene of a massacre.

Reigen scanned the scene and then eyed the actors on the bridge curiously as they stopped in middle of what seemed to be pre-battle banter. They looked like they were from a video game or something, with metal plates on their bandanas and whatnot. There were guys with masks and tactical vests and judging by the looks of it, everyone had something sharp at hand. Knifes, swords, needles. One of them even had and _actual ninja mask_ on.

"You," an old guy with a hardhat said, sounding shocked. "Kaneko, Ichiro, Michi – what are you doing – why are you with _them_?"

"Tazuna," Broom greeted him grimly and Reigen glanced at her and then the hardhat man. Tazuna – Gatou's rival character. So, one of the main plot devices.

"What are you lot doing here?" a man with meat cleaver the size of another man asked in irritation. "Did Gatou sent you? Piss off. We don't need you getting in the way."

Reigen looked curiously from one actor to another. They looked so different from anyone else. Their clothes were more modern and colourful and complicated – and individualistic too. Everyone had defining feature, from the creepy meat cleaver guy's meat cleaver and bandages, to the others' – kids'? – colourful clothing and whatnot. Obvious more detail on the costume department's side here – though what the hell was up with their shoes? It was like they'd taken a look at shoes and decided that they were too cool for toe protection.

Oh, _of course_ – these guys were the main characters of the story. The ones he'd been working with were just the extras, or minor back ground characters. So the plot he'd been expecting, it was happening here.

Alright then.

"So you're the ninjas," Reigen said slowly and pushed his hands into his pockets. "...that Gatou is going to _take out_."

"What?!" creepy meat cleaver guy snapped at him. "What was that?"

"His words, not mine," Reigen shrugged and looked around. It was nice to have everyone colour coded – the colourful bunch were obviously the good guys, and the ones in more muted tones were the bad guys. What was with the kids though? Three of the good guys looked like they were younger than _Mob_. A girl with pink hair and mostly red clothes, boy with black hair and blue and white clothes, and masked kid in dark green… Lot of costume and colour design here. Definitely the main characters.

"Gatou thinks he can take us out?" creepy meat cleaver guy asked with a scoff.

 "That's how it goes, apparently," Reigen said and rocked on the balls of his feet idly. "You set your enemies and allies against each other, wait for them to be distracted and weakened, and swoop in to take care of both when they're down."

That made all of the ninja actors tense, and the two adults – maybe masters? – exchanged grim looks. Then the creepy one turned to Reigen. "Bastard – who the hell are you?"

"Show some respect, you scum!" Scarfy snarled. He'd really taken up the position of an underling. Maybe looking for a role as _right hand man_ or something. "This is Reigen-sama you're talking to, not some two bit lowlife like Gatou!"

"Oi, oi, what did I say about the name calling?" Reigen asked and sighed. Scarfy would make a troublesome right hand. "No need to be rude."

Scarfy flinched and then quickly bowed at him – a proper deep bow. "I'm sorry, Boss, it won't happen again!"

Reigen ran a hand through his hair, eying him. Maybe he was going a bit far and was forcing the guy to act out of character? He was staring to go bit over the top now. "Oh, its fine," he said and shook his head. "Just tone it down a bit."

Shaking his head, Reigen looked at the ninja who were all staring at him, all tense and alert. "Right " he said, glancing down to the knife the grey haired ninja mask guy was holding. "This all very tense. How about we just sit down and discuss this like reasonable adults, hm? There's no need for hostilities or shouting."

The effect was almost instantaneous. Someone produced a foldable plastic chair from _somewhere_ – probably the construction site – and set it down on the bridge for Reigen. The samurai and townspeople flanked it like a honour guard.

Reigen looked at the seat prepared for him and the people all but hovering over it. _Well alright then_ , he thought and then sat down with some extra flourish, crossing one leg over the other and feeling not unlike a king taking his throne. Geez, it was so over the top – and when he held out a hand, going for some dramatic effect, someone promptly placed a cigarette on it, and another samurai immediately held out a lit lighter in front of him.

 _Damn_.

Reigen lit the cigarette and inhaled through it, slow and dramatic, privately revelling in the tense, unwavering attention he was getting. There'd been times, when he'd been younger, when he'd though he would like to be an actor. His teachers had all talked him out of it, citing the statistics, how few really made it on that line of work, and in the end he hadn't bothered… but this, this wasn't bad at all.

He could get used to this.

 

* * *

 

The hairs in the back of Kakashi's neck stood on end as he stared at the sudden and unexpected turns of events unfold.

The blond man leaned back on the chair his people had prepared for him, blowing out a stream of smoke and smiling with the sort of quiet satisfaction that should have rubbed Kakashi the wrong way and yet didn't – and that unnerved him the most about him. Reigen was obviously a man of power, he had an air of easy command about him, a confidence that only people who knew they were in control had  – but he lacked something.

Crime lords and whatnot usually had arrogance, or they had certain edge to them – or, as it was most of then the case, they came across just power-hungry. Gatou seemed very much like the latter – man who'd gotten taste of power then had it go straight to his head, where it had knocked any common sense and probably few screws loose on it's way. This Reigen didn't feel like that at all.

A crime lord that wasn't arrogant, openly ruthless, or power crazy. That was the most dangerous kind.

Kakashi glanced towards Zabuza. The man was just as on edge as he was, so he probably knew it too.

"So," Reigen said calmly, as if it was just another business meeting to him and now a clash of shinobi on a already bloodied battle ground. "It turns out Gatou had been having some difficulties in paying his dues. He owes some people… quite bit of money and people are getting impatient."

"Is that why he's robbed Wave for all it has?" Tazuna asked, his hands squeezed into tight fists.

"No doubt," Reigen agreed and dragged another breath through the cigarette, his eyes moving over Tazuna, considering him calmly.

Zabuza hissed out a curse. "He wasn't going to pay – that little rat bastard, he was never going to pay us?!" he growled. "And he was going to take _care of us_ – hah! I'd like to see him try."

"Bad form, not paying your subordinates," Reigen agreed idly, his eyes moving to Zabuza in turn. He had the Demon of the Bloody Mist growling at him, and he looked calm as you please. The guy had some nerves on him.

"I'm going to find him and wring his _miserable little neck_ ," Zabuza snarled and swung his sword to his back. "Kakashi, our fight is over. Come on, Haku."

Kakashi frowned, glancing at him, but Reigen spoke before he could confirm. "Now, now," the blond business man said placatingly. "There's no need to rush, really. He's going to come to us _._ All we need to do... is have some patience."

"Tch," Zabuza answered, turning to him with narrowed eyes. "I am not a patient man."

Reigen gave him a look that was just short of amused. "There are others here with… issues with Gatou," he said calmly and brought the cigarette to his lips. "What a better way to settle it all, than in one go? It'll save all of us a bit of effort, do you think?"

"Effort my ass," Zabuza muttered but hesitated, glancing at Kakashi. Kakashi just barely managed to keep himself from shrugging his shoulders because it wasn't as if he had any better idea of what was going on. At least he'd heard about Gatou before this mission – Reigen was a complete unknown.

He definitely wasn't a new comer, though.

"Tazuna," Kakashi asked under his breath. "Do you know this guy?"

"No, never seen him before," Tazuna murmured. "But those are…" he nodded to the group behind Reigen and swallowed.

Yeah. It looked like Reigen had a lot of support from the actual citizens of Wave – something Gatou had never had. Which probably meant that this event had been long time coming, and Reigen, whoever he was, had been expending his influence to Wave for a while now, preparing for a take over – and whatever he'd promised to the citizens, it was hell of a lot better than what they got with Gatou.

Not that that was probably hard to do.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura murmured nervously. "What are we going to do?"

"We protect our client," Kakashi said, his voice low, and glanced at Zabuza. "Our fight is over?" he confirmed with the man.

Zabuza gave him an annoyed look and looked over the bridge and the bodies littering it. "Shit, what a fucking mess," he muttered. "Yeah, it's over. If Gatou's not going to pay us, there's no fucking point. Haku," he then said. "Do your thing."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama," the masked kid said and then vanished from where he'd been facing Sasuke, reappearing few meters away, next to the nearest downed construction worker.

"Oi, what the fuck are you doing?! Who told you bastards could just move around as you please?" one of Reigen's men growled threateningly, and then stopped when Reigen lifted stalling hand.

The masked kid plucked few unseen needless of the construction worker's neck and the man suddenly came to with a wet sounding gasp.

"Jin!" Tazuna cried out and hurried to the man's side. "You're alive! I thought you – there's so much blood, I thought you'd – "

The masked kid had flickered to another downed figure and revived him too with a couple of needles removed. Kakashi eyed him sidelong as he worked, undoing what was apparently very theatrical bit of acupuncture, but most of his attention was on Reigen.

The man's expression didn't change. He wasn't a least bit surprised. Or he simply didn't care.

What a terrifying man.

"Kakashi," Sasuke said, his voice tense. "What about the total –"

And then Naruto arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh. Not happy with this chapter. I kinda lost the inspiration somewhere along the way.


End file.
